Osteosynthesis screws and plates are used for reducing bone fractures, specifically for putting two bone fragments back into position relative to each other and for holding them in position.
Such osteosynthesis screws and plates are conventionally used in particular during maxillo-facial surgery, whether for repair purposes in order to reduce an accidental fracture, or for functional and/or plastic surgery purposes as is the case with osteotomies of the upper or lower jaw.
During such surgery, the surgeon has available a set of plates and a set of fixing screws that have previously been extracted from their respective packaging (e.g. from a receptacle containing plates and from another receptacle containing fixing screws) prior to being sterilized and then put on a tray that remains available throughout the surgery.
Depending on the type of intervention that is to be performed, the set of plates may comprise one or more optionally identical plates, and the set of screws may comprise one or more optionally identical screws. These sets are generally constituted by more than a single piece since even when only one piece is required for the surgery, it is necessary to have at least one other piece available as a spare in the event of the first piece to be handled being mechanically defective or no longer in a satisfactory aseptic state.
In addition, even when the type of plate and the type of screw that is to be used have been established beforehand, uncertainty can subsist as to the dimensions that are best suited to the morphology of the patient, in particular concerning the length of the screws to be used.
Consequently, numerous handling operations are required on those elements (plates and screws) forming the osteosynthesis kit, before, during, and after surgery:                before surgery: operating theater personnel must prepare the elements of the osteosynthesis kit, i.e. determine the type(s) of screw and plate to be provided, and also the number(s) thereof, find them in stock, and then sterilize them and put them into sealed envelopes; the elements are then allowed to wait until shortly before surgery, at which moment the sealed envelopes are opened and the elements are placed on the above-mentioned tray;        during surgery: some or all of the elements of the osteosynthesis kit will be taken in forceps or some other suitable instrument prior to being put into place and fixed to the patient using instruments designed for this purpose; the forceps (or other instrument) going back and forth between the tray and the patient or the above-mentioned instruments, leads to a risk of dirtying and contaminating elements that have not yet been used and that remain on the tray; and        after surgery: from the above, those elements that remain and that have not been damaged from a mechanical point of view need to be subjected to a new step of cleaning and sterilization, regardless of whether or not they have been touched by an instrument, prior to being returned to stock waiting to be selected for a forthcoming surgical intervention; in other words, under no circumstances are elements that remain still sterile.        
An object of the present invention is to solve the above-specified problems so as to enable the amount of handling that needs to be performed in the operating theater to be reduced, including handling concerning sterilization, so as to provide the surgeon with an osteosynthesis kit that is directly suitable for use in the operating theater, while guaranteeing the quality and the sterility of the equipment constituting the osteosynthesis kit.